afflictionmods: (Default)
affliction mods ([personal profile] afflictionmods) wrote in [community profile] theafflicted2022-06-11 05:38 am

03.50 - week three, saturday

W3 SATURDAY
Another Saturday rolls around. Some of you had an… interesting night, perhaps, but that’s still no excuse to sit out on your lessons. There’s another announcement, another time to meet before your lessons start today. This time is just a bit different, though. This time you’re not meeting up at campus. You’re told to meet up at the park in the Museum District - and, as always, you’re expected to show up. How you get there is irrelevant, but you better try to be on time.

Florence is waiting at the park, and behind them is another dark, ominous orb. Even as far away as you are, you can hear its whispers. It’s calling to you with promises it can show you a new life, a better life, it can make you someone better… But then Florence is speaking, as if they cannot feel the hear the whispers.

“I will be accompanying you on this lesson, as I said in the brochure I handed out on Thursday. I will do my best to assist you.” There is a pause, though their face voice remains emotionless. “It is hard to say what it will be like inside - however, your goal for this lesson is to close this place for good. I may be unable to assist with that personally, so we are relying on you.”

They take a step back, turning towards the orb.

“I would advise you to do what is asked of you while you are in there - and a word of warning. Through our observations, we have noticed something strange. This seems capable of creating replications of those who enter it.” They let that information hang for a moment, before continuing. “We are unsure what these replications are truly capable of, but please be careful.”

Then Florence gestures for you to follow, and they’re stepping into the orb.




THE RINGMASTER
The inside is still the same park, but it has been transformed into a carnival. There are booths with games and food set up everywhere, a large ferris wheel, a tent. It will be a familiar carnival, to some of you, but all the lights are off and there are no people there. There’s a tug, a pull, that draws you towards the main tent - to center stage. Stepping inside you will be greeted by someone dressed as a ringmaster, whose voice is lively and energetic despite how hollow they seem on the outside:

“Hello and welcome! It’s time for your performance! And every good performer wants to do what the people want, don’t they? There’s a list on those little tablets of yours, and you need to do whatever’s asked of you!”

The ringmaster laughs brightly, and it echoes throughout the tent. “The more you do, the more we’ll all enjoy it, and the better chance you will get to stay you! But if you refuse… Well, that won’t be any good, right?”

The ringmaster makes a wide, sweeping gesture with their cane.

“We’re very generous here, though, and realize some things are easier to do with others! That’s why one refusal won’t be an instant loss. We’re assigning task cards, you see. Kinda like bingo cards! Each time you do a task for someone or someone does one for you, you get 50 points! The more you do, the higher the score, and once you reach 200 points, you're capped! But every time you refuse to do something people ask you to do, even if you're at 200 points… you lose 100 points ! And if you don’t do anything, well, you get no points and you lose automatically! You also can’t just sit around doing the same thing with the same person over and over again! Gotta spice it up! The same thing over and over again is just boring.”

There’s a click, and noise starts up outside of the tent. It sounds like the carnival’s come alive.

“Your little tablets will track your points. I really do recommend playing along, because if you fail… You’ll lose something. Something that makes you you! A memory, a precious item, something that makes you who you are and can’t be replaced so easily… Who knows what’s at risk, here! Though who am I kidding, it might be more fun to see what you'll lose. Don't ya think? Maybe you should just give up now and we can all laugh about it!

Anyways, all you gotta do is live until the timer runs out. The timer, by the way, is gonna be at the top of your tablet thingamajigs.”

There’s a tip of the ringmaster’s hat. The timer reads 90 minutes.

“That’s all for now! Go find that pesky little robot who’s been snooping around if you want more answers, because I am very busy.”




THE AUDIENCE
Once the ringmaster’s done with their speech, you’re free to travel around the carnival and explore it. It’s an eerie, quiet place, but… you’re not alone, and it won’t take you long to realize that. Those of you who had seen this carnival before - Miach, Shinei, Herlock, and Xingqiu - probably won’t be surprised when the doubles show up. They’re near perfect recreations of you - but near perfect doesn’t mean perfect. Their mannerisms might be odd, or their movements might be jerky and uncanny… but at a glance, it’s impossible to tell who is the real one and who isn’t.

And this is something that makes these doubles very, very angry.

They want you to fail, and they’ll do anything they can to ensure that happens. They’ll sabotage you - or your partner - all in an effort to make you lose points. They'll taunt you if it seems like you're ready to open up, they'll tell you about all the reasons why being honest is a bad idea. For physical prompts, they'll taunt you, call you a monster... They also seem to believe that if you fail, they’ll get to replace you. They will get a chance to get out of here and be the real one. They’re not always convincing, but they are dangerous, and there’s just as many of them as there are of you.




OOC NOTES
OOC: Here are some important things to note for today’s event:

- A simple breakdown of the rules is as follows:
You cap at 200 points, but you must maintain those 200 points until the timer runs out.
Mutual agreement on completing a task nets each person 50 points.
Getting turned down or refusing to do one makes you lose 100 points.
You cannot use the same person to complete all your tasks. You must have only one prompt per character that you cooperate with.


- The cards know, meaning that they'll know if something is not answered earnestly. Prompts that are answered falsely will not go away on your tablets. They will only go away if they are answered truthfully.

- Failure is NOT a bad end! In fact, we have some plans in the instance where not enough people pass the exercise. If 5 or more people fail the exercise, that is considered a group failure. Those who failed individually will face the consequences of losing the important memory/item/etc.

- We are asking people to make their own task cards. Here is a list of prompts:
You may also add one custom prompt tailored to your character, if you wish.

Please toss the prompts into the textbox at the top of this site. Under "Configuration Options", the card size should be 3x3 and the center space should have Normal selected. All characters will get a total of 9 prompts on their cards. It is okay to have prompts that your character would not do; it would just increase their chances of failure.









kaientai: (181)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-11 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
How do you know that? You've died before then? How many worlds didja eat? Is that just your job or what?

[ he asks questions like a child. ]
selfconcept: . (pic#14395164)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-11 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Hien just blankly stares at Ryouma for a while as he tries to rack his brain. He feels like this will just lead to more questions, but. Ryouma asked. ]

I can change modes to Future Mode, which turns myself into a future form of myself. It's a guaranteed future, but I dunno when it'll happen. I died before, but that's irrelevant to the world eating topic. I ate several.

[ ... ]

And it's just an inevitability.
kaientai: (053)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-12 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
Wow.

[ that's all. he's just trying to process this because it's so much. ]

I've seen a lotta things but—... that's pretty amazing! So, are you just like this for the human experience? 'Cause I can't blame ya. Humans are pretty great!
selfconcept: (pic#15650880)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-12 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ He slightly tilts his head in confusion. ]

I was a human before.
kaientai: (001)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-12 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Oh? Well, me too! Funny how that works out sometimes, huh?

[ together in the we used to be human but now we're something weird club! ]
selfconcept: (pic#15107727)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-12 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ That club seems to be expanding...

Hien looks at Ryouma curiously.
]

So were you Mutsu's master before or after that?
kaientai: (004)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-12 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
Huh? Oh, well, from my perspective I never stopped.

[ he taps the hilt of the sword he's carrying with a finger to indicate that it is, in fact, at least his version of mutsunokami yoshiyuki. ]

But technically, that'd be before, when I was still alive.

selfconcept: (pic#14357535)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-12 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh... huh.

[ Must weird time shenanigans. ]

He told me all about how you were a good master and how lucky he was to have you.
kaientai: (005)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-12 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
Really?

[ he looks surprised but also smiles warmly. it's a nice thing to hear. ]

I would've thought he'd resent me just a little, what with being a sword who never got to do what swords are for. Actually, everything I was working for pretty much guaranteed no one would need swords anymore...
selfconcept: (pic#14357531)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-12 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
He took pride in that too, saying that he "never hurt anyone".

[ Never hurt humans at least. ]

I thought he was lying because of what he is, but even with you confirming it, I suppose it's true.
kaientai: (152)

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-06-13 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
Nope! See, my family had two swords — Hizen Tadahiro and Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki. When I left home, my sister gave me the Tadahiro sword, but Mutsu was always my favourite ever since I was a kid. I used to write home and beg my brother to send it—... him? ...—along.

[ this is something he's still adjusting to. ]

My brother finally gave in eventually and I gave the other sword to a good friend of mine. I carried Mutsu all over Nagasaki showin' him off and telling everyone about how Sakamoto Ryouma has the best sword. I'm glad he heard everything I said, 'cause it's all true!
selfconcept: , (pic#14355282)

[personal profile] selfconcept 2022-06-13 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, that actually sounds cute. Hien listens with a fond look on his face, because it sounds like a child getting to show off their favorite toy to everyone and being really, genuinely happy. It's really heartwarming. ]

You two are really made for each other.